I've spent the month knee-deep in my blog, whittling it down to the stuff that is most reflective of my work and evolving curiosity. (What a slog!) I was happily surprised to see I had written 118 posts to date. Fifty-two of these no longer seem relevant or that good so I've deleted them, which leaves a grand total of 66 decent articles. I now have a better sense of what I actually like writing about—these are the kinds of of stories I'm after and will continue to explore, circle around, and pitch to editors. Here's the thing though: I did not figure this out in one super-productive brainstorming session but in the course of two years and two months and 118 blog posts, a good portion of which have been satisfyingly crunched in the virtual trash can. Sometimes you round the corner in your creative profession after years and years of doing the work and throwing half of it away.

Here are some things I'm reading, thinking about, and working on this month: